186. Abroma augusta, Linn., h.f.b.i., i. 375, Roxb. 510.
Syn. : — A. fastuosurn, Gœrtn.
vern. : — Ulatkambal (B.) ; Olatkambol (Bomb.)
Habitat: — Throughout the hotter parts of India, from the N. W. Provinces to Sikkim, Khasia Mountains, and Assam. Unknown in the Western Peninsula of India.
A small tree native or cultivated throughout the hotter parts of India. Branches and branchlets downy. The bark yields a beautiful silky fibre like that of hemp, and the shrub has often been recommended for growth as a crop. Wood light brown, soft. Pores moderate-sized, subdivided usually into 2 or 3 partitions. Medullary rays very short, brown, and very fine, bent round the pores whose diameter is greater than the distance between them" (Gamble). Leaves 4-6 by 4-5in., repand, denticulate, ovate from a cordate base, often lobed or angled ; basal nerves 5-7, upper smaller, narrower, entire, glabrescent above, soft-pubescent below. Petiole ½-1in. Stipules linear, dociduous, as long as petiole. Inflorescence soft-pubescent. Peduncles " extra axillary " (Brandis), with two or three purple bisexual flowers. Flowers 2in. diam. Sepals 1in., persistent, lanceolate, free nearly to the base. Petals covered in bud, deciduous ; claw concave. Staminal-tube short, 4-petaloid. Staminodes alternating with sessile anthers. Capsule 1½in., obpyramidal, ultimately glabrous, thrice as long as the persistent Calyx, membranous, 5-angled, 5-winged.
Parts used : — The root, bark and leaves.
Uses: — The root-bark has been brought to notice as an emmenagogue by Mr. B. M. Sircar, in the Indian Medical Gazette, for 1872. In the Lit G. for May 1900, he wrote :— " Forty years ago I first came to know the medicinal properties of this indigenous plant as a good emmenagogue in menstrual disorders. . . . The officinal part of the plant is the fresh viscid sap, which abounds in the thick, easily seperable bark of the root and is insoluble in water.
